Abe faces delicate balancing act in modifying Japan's defence strategy

JAPAN'S hostage crisis, culminating in the beheading of journalist Kenji Goto by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, was an act of barbarity that deserves the strong condemnation that it got from Japan and the international community. On the foreign policy front, it provides an opportunity for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to re-examine its security strategy.

What is important is that Japan must not set off down a road that could lead to further confrontation. "Let the nightmare for Japan begin," a masked ISIS figure said in an online video before beheading Mr Goto in the savage act that shocked Japan and the world. However melodramatic the assassin's words sounded, they have a chilling ring for Japan.

The crisis can be understood only in the context of history. Various Japanese political leaders before Mr Abe have complained that, within the constraints set by its US-imposed post-war "pacifist" Constitution, Japan cannot be a "normal" nation able to defend its interests and citizens. But they have nevertheless chosen to abide by that Constitution and the pacifist image of (post-war) Japan thus created has generally insulated the country and its people from outside attack, including from terrorists. All that may have changed almost overnight, as the hostage crisis has revealed.